The Cibertek Blog

In case you’ve haven’t heard, Microsoft is about to release a new operating system, its called Windows 7.  Before you get too excited, there is a lot of things and/or decisions that must be made before you even think about this upgrade.  So over the next few weeks, I will post some of my experiences with W7.  I’ve been using W7 since January and as of today, all my home computers have been upgraded to the W7 Beta (RC7100); its that good.

Until then here are some important things to know:

1.   If you already using Windows Vista then the W7 upgrade is an easy choice.  (Think of it like Vista version 2 with all the bugs and annoyances gone)

2.  If you want to get the upgrade for only $49, get it at Best Buy…

the Best Buy chain indicates that the store will offer, from June 26 to July 11, a “pre-sale” on Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade and Windows 7 Professional Upgrade for $49.99 and $99.99, respectively. The software will ship in October,…….source: New York Times

3.  If you are still using XP, youre going to have a tough and tedious path to W7.  As of now, Microsoft says you can buy the upgrade media but you will have to do a “clean” install.  So all your apps and drivers will have to be reinstalled.  If your machine is already Vista ready than this should be an easy upgrade.  If your machine still has a XP logo on it, then it might be ready to buy a new one.

4.  Best Buy is also offering to give a free upgrade to W7 for any computer purchased from June 26 to Oct 22.  Check with your local Best Buy for details.

My advice right now is if your still running XP and have to run XP for some strange reason then stick with it for a little while longer.  Microsoft has already announced that it will stop selling XP all together mid-2010.  So you have until then to just by a new PC already!  If that is not going to happen anytime soon or  just bought a PC in the past 18 months, then I highly recommended running the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor tool.  This tool will give you a pretty good idea if your machine can handle W7 and give you tips on what to do if its not in a nice little report.

More on Windows 7 to come.   By the way, you can still get the W7 Release Candidate here if you want to try it out.